BONN (dpa-AFX) - Unexpectedly high demand for mobile phone contracts has given Deutsche Telekom another strong quarter. Between April and June, the number of contract customers in Germany grew by 311,000 under the company's own brands, as the DAX announced in Bonn on Thursday. This was due to continued strong interest in bundled offers such as family contracts.

The parent company of T-Mobile US exceeded expectations with the number of new customers. Mobile service revenue also increased accordingly - Deutsche Telekom companies earn significantly more from this type of revenue than from low-margin hardware. Meanwhile, the European Football Championship in Germany and a new regulation for cable connections had a positive effect on the number of TV customers.

At Group level, revenue in the second quarter increased by 4.3% year-on-year to almost 28.4 billion euros. This was also more than calculated by industry experts. Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization including leasing costs (EBITDA AL) climbed by 7.8 percent to 10.8 billion euros. On balance, Telekom earned just under 2.1 billion euros after around 1.5 billion euros in the previous year. The free cash inflow jumped by almost 50 percent to 5.2 billion euros, which is also due to reduced investments.

Meanwhile, the Management Board raised its forecast for free cash flow AL slightly to around EUR 19 billion. Previously, it had a value of 18.9 billion on the screen. The annual target of an adjusted operating profit (EBITDA AL) of 42.9 billion euros remained unchanged./ngu/jha/